Vibrant Gujarat Summit has been a stage of receiving applauds for Narendra Modi since the days he was the chief minister of the state. With the vibrancy of the summit he moulded the mindset of the nation in a new way.
For the crucial election year 2019 the Modi brigade had high hopes hanging on the summit that it will bring in the much needed shine. Alas! Much to their disappointment, the summit failed to meet their expectations.
An abysmal turn out of mere 19 corporate participants was seen, even after the corps were well aware of the PM’s interest in the summit.
Some old friends were also distanced from the summit, such as Anil Ambani who was a regular attendee since 2003. The Rafale row is soaring so high on controversies that the state government didn’t even post an invitation on his name.
A little reminder: This is the same Anil Ambani who had roared from the 2009 Vibrant Gujarat Summit’s stage tagging ‘Narendra Bhai’ of then as the ‘Future PM’ of India.
The Rafale row was also the very reason that Dassault Aviation was missing from ‘Oppurtunities in Defence and Aerospace’ meet. Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani had visited Mumbai for promoting the meet. There he met with various people but, as heard on the grapevine, skipped Anil Ambani.
The 2019 Vibrant Gujarat Summit also registered lesser-than-expected participants from the US and UK. In any case, their participation at large too was of not much significance. A very small chunk of the investments promised during the summit is able to see the light of the day. For instance, at least Rs 20 lakh worth investments were announced during the 2011 summit; MoUs were also signed; but at the end of the day, what reached the receiving end was a mere 10 per cent of it.